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The president of the Turkish Chess Federation denied Thursday that his group paid delegates to support Turkey’s successful bid to play host to the 2012 Chess Olympiad.

The president, Ali Nihat Yazici, said in a statement that the money spent on the bid paid for gifts, souvenirs, a booth to lobby delegates and transportation and accommodations for Turkey’s delegation at the 2008 Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, where the 2012 event was awarded. His statement appeared on the Web site Chessdom.com.

On Wednesday, Gambit quoted an auditor’s report saying that the Turkish federation paid the expenses of delegates from other countries to support its bid for the Olympiad.

Gambit tried to contact Mr. Yazici several times by e-mail and by phone before the article was published, but he did not respond.

In the auditor’s statement concerning the Turkish federation’s finances, a footnote said some of the money was spent on the expenses of delegates from other federations. In an e-mail, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, president of the World Chess Federation, said that sort of behavior would violate its rules.

In his statement, Mr. Yazici said the Gambit article was orchestrated by his political opponents within the Turkish federation, which is meeting Saturday.

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In its 1,500-year history, chess has imbedded itself in the world's culture and vocabulary. Ideas, terms and images from the game have long been used as proxies for intelligence and complexity. But chess is more than a diversion. Thousands worldwide play professionally or earn a living by teaching it to children. The Internet has transformed the game, making it easy for players anywhere to find an opponent day or night. Chess computers, originally developed to test the bounds of artificial intelligence, now play better than grandmasters. This blog will cover tournaments and events, trends and developments. Reader comments and questions will be more than welcome.

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